Thirty-one Day Decluttering Grand Total is...

I began my fall cleanup October first and started strong.  My goal was to declutter five items each day.  Mid month, illness delayed my efforts but I picked up the challenge again in November to complete my thirty-one days.

It was interesting how varied and random my items were.  Some things were mine, some were items left from my children, and some were from my teaching years.  Items came from every room in my house and although I'm glad to have it all out of here, it's hard to see a big impact because of that.  It amazes me how I can take bags of stuff, big black lawn bags of stuff, seven so far, out of this house but not see a huge impact.  Of course, I notice as I am more in tune to details but I doubt my husband has noticed.

As I decluttered and came across empty containers or emptied baskets, I gather them all together and now have three apple boxes full of containers.  I gave a couple away to a friend who stopped by and when asked, picked out four containers for items she was trying to organize.  When I am finished with my whole house declutter, any containers I do not need will be donated.

I found letting go so much easier at this point in my life.  I was hanging on to a lot of my teaching items in case I go back into that field but was able to let go of a lot of it.  I now have a bunch to donate to the local teaching center and to a local preschool.

I will continue to declutter as we head toward the end of 2018 but of course this time of year is busy so I will not have a daily item goal.  Today, I came across six rolls of wallpaper that will be the beginnings of a new donation pile.  This coming week will find me tackling the holiday decorating so that should generate some more things as I focus on the meaningful decorations and let go of the rest.

I think the process of focusing on meaningful things has really helped me make a mental shift which makes it easier make decisions about which things are important and which items  I still want tp be a part of my life.  I can glimpse a bit more the life I imagine and therefore can work toward.  I feel that simplifying my surroundings will open more room for creative space and time. Oh, and the grand total is two hundred and one items!